Andy Cohen Apologized For Calling One Direction ‘Twinks’ Even Though No One Was Mad At Him

Bravo’s Andy Cohen has issued a retraction of sorts after referring to the boyishly adorable boys of One Direction as “twinks.” He did this despite nobody being actively mad at him (yet), which just goes to show you how scared everyone has become of the shrieking, bubblegum-scented, many-headed pubescent hydra that is One Direction’s fanbase.

In a recent live interview with The Today Show, he said:

“This morning, I went into the normal green room that we typically go into. I barged in, there are all these people in front of us. Oh, it’s all the leftover One Direction fans. I barged right into a room of twinks: One Direction! Security was not exactly too tight, with all due respect. I barged right in. It was crazy!”

And that’s not all. Andy was so excited about his twink encounter that he took to Twitter immediately after:

But a few hours later, he thought better of it and said:

For those not in the know, “twink” is a word used mainly by gay men to refer to young gay men who look…well, a lot like the One Direction fellows. However, it’s made its way into the common parlance to the point where my gay friends have been known to make fun of me for always going after “twinks” of the straight variety. Last I checked, it was not an insult to jokingly compare someone to a super-cute young gay dude, unless you think it’s a bad thing to be gay.

So, what does this incident tell us?

-Andy Cohen doesn’t know enough about One Direction to know the name of “the blonde one.”

-Andy Cohen doesn’t get out much, as evidenced by his undue excitement over twinks.

For the record, One Direction’s spokesperson has said it’s not offensive (while sidestepping the gay issue entirely) by saying “it just means attractive,” and I have yet to find a single person on Twitter who is actually mad about it. A lot of people are mad that this is even a story, though, so maybe there’s hope for us after all.